dreadball_academyfandomcom-20200214-history
Rule History
Season 1 The Kickoff set the basic rules. How to move, to pass, to slam, to use cards and dice. It was quite streamlined. It setup the rules for league play and player advancement, and all in all it was a good system. It broke new ground with its stream-line use of dice, while remaining equally complex in its need for positioning and resource management. Season 2 Following the Kickoff, Season 2 went behind the scenes of the game and focused on the support off the Pitch. Assistant Coaches were added and grabbed with great appeal, and Cheerleaders arrived to increase the number of Fan Checks a team would receive (though their true power wouldn't appear until Season 4). New abilities appeared as did an alternate path for advancing players to train in, increasing the options teams had on how they developed. Player loss was also addressed, allowing teams to choose to revive their deceased players at a significantly lower price but at the cost of receiving less-the-ideal results. As such Season 2 expanded the options for team development, focusing more on league play since the initial rules had covered one-off scrimmages. Season 3 The introduction of "Dreadball Ultimate" offered a new way to play the game. Games could remain at 1v1, but also had the option of going bigger with games of 1v1v1, or even 6-way free-for-alls! Giant models were added - figures that took up 3 hexes instead of 1 - and the ball Launcher had its velocity increased to discourage players standing in the middle of the pitch. A new Foul was added - Ball Hog - and Stall was increased in its range of effect. All in all Season 3 mostly offered bigger games for final showdowns between major teams who wanted to go all out and show off everything they could. However it was nothing compared to what was about to hit... Season 4 The new generation of Dreadball increased the options for experience gain, giving more interactions on the pitch without complicating the game. Indeed it allowed players to expand on the existing rules, while adding some additional mechanics. The new rule of Achievements encouraged players to push themselves. Players who successfully delivered a Hail Mary Pass, or demolished an opponent beyond just a mere Armor Check, could earn their team a Coaching Dice or even award the acting player with Experience. Suddenly teams who felt limited in their XP gain picked up the pace. Additionally Fans were added to the Pitch, allowing a coach to forgo drawing a card for a Fan Check and instead having some NPC's enter the game. This added additional complications that players had to resolve, as Fans added additional threat to the pitch. However there was also rewards offered for dealing with Fans, as doing so could offer a team another means to gain Coaching Dice or Experience for their players. This mechanic also increased the appeal of Cheerleaders from Season 2 as their presence increased the success level of earning this bonus. Second Edition Second Edition came a few years after the First, as the designers listened to player feedback and acted on it to adjust the game accordingly. * Speed was divided into two traits - Speed (used for Dashing) and Agility (used for Dodging, Standing Up, and Evading). This was mainly for balance. * With Speed and Agility separate, Jacks were given a +1 Dice Bonus to Speed - making them excellent "Runners" * Run Interference was removed as an ability; instead the action is availanle to all Jacks BUT ONLY if they use an 'Any Action' Card. * Teams could be custom built at the start of a League (instead of being assigned a single default roster). * Casualties cause the "killed" player being reset to level 1 (essentially the player being replaced by a rookie equivalent); making the player death less damaging to their team. * Support Staff were redesigned to be more interactive, and "Team-Exclusive MVP's" became Team Captains which offered even further tactical choice. Finally additional teams were added to the already large selection of groups. New teams included: * Matsudans * The Yndij * Neo Bots